1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image management apparatus, an image management system, an image management method, a recording medium capable of being read by a computer, and a computer program. More particularly, the present invention is suitable when receiving an image from an image input apparatus for inputting a large number of images of a digital camera or the like, managing and displaying the images, and performing printing, transmission by electronic mail, or the like of the images.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a result of recent diffusion of digital cameras, it is common practice to freely photograph a large amount of images, receive and store the images in a personal computer (PC), manage the images by oneself, and print an image or transmit an image by attaching it in mail.
Conventionally, images received from a digital camera connected via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) I/F (interface) or the like are stored within folders, and the received images are managed using image management software that displays each image within a folder assigned by the PC, with a thumbnail size.
In this image management software, in order to manage received images by classifying them, for example, a plurality of subfolders are formed for a superior folder, classified images are stored in each subfolder, and all images in all folders below an assigned folder are directly displayed on a picture frame. As described above, in the conventional image management software, by displaying all images below a certain folder, the user can easily find a desired image, and therefore it is very convenient.
The user's operations when the user photographs images by a digital camera and connects the digital camera to a PC are substantially identical every time.
Furthermore, the user usually intends to perform these operations for newly photographed images. Accordingly, options for an operation which the user intends to perform after receiving images in a PC are not so large.
However, in the above-described conventional image management software, there is no particular connection between an operation of receiving images from a PC and an operation of printing a received image or displaying the images in a slide show. Accordingly, the user must newly select a received image in the PC and start a subsequent operation.
As described above, in the conventional image management software, all images below an assigned folder are directly displayed inclusive of subfolders.
This is an excellent image display method in that the user need not search in which subfolder a desired image is included and can find the desired image by reviewing all displayed images. However, when many images are stored within a folder, the size of each thumbnail image to be displayed becomes relatively small.
The above-described conventional approach of displaying images received from a digital camera into a PC is excellent in finding a desired image when the user can imagine the image in his head. For example, even if a small thumbnail image is displayed as described above, the user can easily find its position because the user who has photographed the image remembers it.
However, when the user intends to vaguely see images, it can be said that this approach is an approach to easily see images, because the size of displayed thumbnail images differs among folders depending on the number of images stored in each folder.